Hand held rotary cutters of the type contemplated herein are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,564, entitled "Hand Held Cutter Having A Rotatable Circular Blade And Safety Guard," issued on Apr. 7, 1992, to Craig H. Melter, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/944,870, entitled "Rotary Cutting Blade Assembly For A Hand Held Cutter," filed on Sep. 14, 1992. Each of these prior art references describe rotary cutters wherein the blade is moved along an arcuate path relative to the handle to selectively expose and retract the cutting perimeter of the blade. A pivotable member is mounted within the head of the handle to support the blade and is biased to a retracted position with respect to the head of the handle. The blade is advanced to an operative position by an actuating lever pivotably mounted in the head. The actuating lever is biased to a retracted position by elastic bands located within the handle.